Machine for applying nuts to screws, bolts, and studs



Dec. 17, 1929. R. s. CROSBY 1,739,712

MACHINE FOR APPLYING NUTS TO SCREWS, BOLTS, AND STUDS Filed D60. 1. 19272 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 1,7, 1929. R. s. CROSBY w. 1,759,715

MACHINE FOR APPLYING NUTS TO SCREWS, BOLTS, AND STUDS Filed D80. 1. 19272 Sheets-Sheet 2 M, dad/ Patented Dec. 17, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE REUBEN S. CROSBY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT,I ASSIGNOR TO THE ASAS. COOK COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUTMACHINE FOR.APPLYING NUTS TO SCREWS, BOLTS, AND STUDS Application filedDecember 1, 1927. Serial No. 237,025.

This invention relates to a machine for turning nuts onto screws, andbolts, and studs. The term screws hereinafter used in this specificationis to be understood to include not onl screws, bolts, screw studs butthe like articles.

The object of the invention is to; provide a simple machine which willautomatically take screws from a promiscuous mass in a hopper and nutsfrom a promiscuous mass in another hopper and feed them together in suchmanner that the nuts will be quickly turned u on the ends of the screwsand the product ischarged.

In the machine illustrated as embodying the invention, slotted andthreadedscrews are picked up from a hopper by oscillatory fingers andpassed into a curved runway down which they slide first hanging by theirheads and then turning to a horizontal position. At the lower end of therunway the screws are, one at a time, grasped by oscillatory fingers andcarried into line with a rapidly rotating opened chuck. The threadednuts are pushed out from a hopper into a chute down which they slide toa reciprocatory car rier which, one at a time, presses them intoengagement with the threaded ends of the screws and pushes the screwheads into the chuck which then closes. .When the chuck is closed thescrew rotates therewith and turns into the nut, the engaging threadsdrawing the nut out of the carrier until the nut is screwed the desireddistance upon the screw, at which time the carrier is withdrawn, thechuck is opened and the screw with the nut ejected by the thrustof aspring pressed plunger that rotates with the chuck spindle and engagesthe end of the screw. The cycle of actions is repeated and continues aslong as there are screws and nuts in the ho pers.

In the accompanying; drawings ig. 1 shows an elevation looking towardone end of a machine designedto turn nuts onto screws, which embodiesthe invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same end with parts cutaway on the plane indicated by the dotted line 2--2 on Fig. 4. Fig.3 isa front elevation of the end of the machine shown in Fig. 0 2. "Fig. 4is a top view of the machine with a slot in its outer end.

the screw hopper removed and portions cut in horizontal section on theplan indicated by the dotted line 44 on Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detailshowing the relations of the screw hold ing chuck and the nut carrier,with the chuck open to receive a screw head and the holder in positionto receive a nut. Fig. 6 is a similar view with the parts in thepositions occupied when the screw is about to be gripped by the chuckand the nut is about to be turned upon the screw.

The screw hopper 1 is rotatable, being fastened to the upper end of atubular shaft 2 V which extends through and turns in the upper end ofa'bracket 3 that is secured to the frame 4 and that supports the hopper.(Figs. 1, t3.) Attached to the lower end of this shaft 1s a bevel gear 5engaged with which is a bevel gear 6 fastened to an arbor 7 that turnsin a bearing in the bracket. Secured to the arbor is a spur gear 8 thatmeshes with the, spur ear 9 which is fastened to the cam shaft 10. Fig.4..)

Extending through the tubular shaft 2 is a rod 11, fastened to which,above the hopper, is a radially extending arm 12 that has (Fig. 3.)Rotatable with' the arbor 7 and gears 6 and 8 is a cam 9 that engagesthe lower end of the rod 11 and causes the rod to reciprocate verticallyand the arm 12 to move up and down as the hop per rotates. (Figs. 1, 3.)

A pair of spaced fingers 13 that extend over the screw hopper, arefastened to one end of an arbor 14 supported in the upper end of thebracket 15 which is fastened to the top of the frame. (Fig. 3.) Attachedto the other end of the arbor 14: is a rocker arm 16 that has a'stud 17which projects into the slot in the endof the arm 12. (Figs. 2, 3.) Bymeans of this connection as the hopper is rotated and the arm 12 movesup and down, the fingers 13 are oscillated so that their inner ends slipdown into the hopper at one angle and then swing up and incline in anopposite direction. With the inner ends of the fingers projecting downinto the hopper screws are pushed into the space between them from themass of screws that rotates with the hopper. When the inner ends of thefingers are raised the screws arms 44 which move between the partitionwhich are picked up slide down between the walls 45 in the interior ofthe hopper. On fingers hanging b their heads. A guard 18 the outer endof this shaft is a pulley 46 that is arranged overt espace between thefingers is belted to a pulley 47 on the cam shaft. to prevent the screwsfrom falling out. When the shaft is rotated the arms 44 turn- (Fig. 3.)ing through the mass of nuts in the hopper Adjacent to the outer ends ofthe oscilpush some of the nutsup the side wall of the latory screwpicking fingers is a runway hopper and over into the chute 48 downformed by plates 19 fastbne d to the bracket which theyslide. (Figs1,4.) -15. When the fingers are raised the screws Movable across thelower end of the nut 75 which they have picked up slide down from chuteand in line with the chuck is the nut the fingers into this runway whichis curved carrier 49 which has an opening 50 in the so that whenthescrews enter they hang .by fro t end sha d t r ceiv a, nut from thetheir heads substantially vertical, but as they hute and h a fi t urfac51 that closes a pass down they turn and lie in a horizontal th l w d fth h t h a n t i 80 position at the lower end ot the runw ycarriedforward. (Figs. 5, 6.) The carrier Over the top of the runway is a guard20. has a shank 52 which is movably fitted in a (F 3g slide 53 and isnormally pulled forward by I ltfova le under the bottom of h runw y apair of springs 54 connected between the 20 is a gate 0n e lo end O arocker arm 22 slide and a collar attached to the shank. that is fastenedto an arbor 23 supported in (Fi 3, 4,) Th lid h a l it di l bearings int bracket l g has a movement-in a way in the frame and is moved curvedrecess 24 adapted to receive the screw f d t th proper ti b a lever 56shanks and 3. flat section Wl llCh closes the and cam and is retracted aspring 58, 25 lower end of the runway when the recessed (Fi 3, 4 B thimeans th carrier i part is SWuIlg y Wlth a gretracted and afterreceiving a nut from the A link 26 Connects a rocker arm 27 fastened endof the chute it carries that nut forward to the arbor 23, with a rockerarm 21 which 1S i t engagement ith th th d d d f connected to the pp endof a 16ml 2 the screw which has been brought into line so that ispivoted on an arbor 29 supported 111 with the chuck by the fingers 33,as previously the frame, and 15 adapted to be Osclnated y described. Thecontinued forward movea cam 30 on the Cam Sh f h level 28 1S ment of thecarrier causes the nut to push yieldingly held in engagement Wlth the qthe screw until its head is between the jaws end of the link 26 y p gand a Stlfi'el' of the chuck 40, as illustrated in Fig. 6. At

as spring 32 is arranged between the bracket and this moment the chuckjaws are closed over the link to normally keep the end of the le thehead of the screw and with the chuck in engagement with he m gplunger 59in the slot of the screw, the screw y this means at the P p tlme therocker is turned into the nut. The forward movearm 22 is oscillated tcar y a screw to 0119 ment of the nut carrier having at this time 40side of the lower end of the runway and ceased, the engagement of thethreads causes when this is being accomplished the flat secth t t bdrawn f d f th ti of th gate closes the runway to prevent rier onto thescrew the desired distance and the other SCI'BW f m d ppi g from the.then the chuck jaws open and the screw with runway. its nut is ejected.45 When the gate swings over it carries a The chuck and itsoperating-means may be a screw into position to be grasped by a p n anycommon type, wellknown to those skilled of fingers Th se fingers are pited 011 in the screw machine art, consequently it is the upp r end of al v 3 n a normally not illustrated in detail. It is suflicient to heldclosed by a S rlng 3 Whl 15 C nn mention that the chuck is carried asusual by 50 with a finger 36 t at 1s pivoted to One Of the a spindle 60which is provided with a driving 11:; fingers 33 and bears aga nst theother finger. pulley 61. The chuck is opened and closed I (Fig. 2.) Thelever 34 is fastened. to the arin the ordinary way by the movements ofthe bor 29 and is held in engagement With a m collar 62 which iseffected by the arm 63 at- 38 on the cam shaft by a spring 39 fast nedtached to the shaft 64 that is reciprocated by 5&- between the bi'acket3and afinger 37 clamped the stud 65 which projects from the collar i tothe arbor. (Fig. 2.) This cain' oscillates 66 fastened to the shaft,into the cam groove the lever 34 so that the fingers 33 swing down 67ofthe cam disk 68 on thecain shaft. and pick up a screw from the gate andthen (Fig. 4.) carry the screw into axial alignment with the On the endof the chuck spindle,.w-hi h co chuck 40, which position is illustratedin is rotated by the driving pulley, is a pinion Figs. 5 and 6. 69 whichis engaged by a gear 70 attached The nut hopper 41 is mounted on abracket to which is a pinion 7.1. Engaging with this 42 attached to thefront of the frame. Turnpinion is a gear 72 which has a pinion 73 ing inbearin s in the walls of this hopper that engages with a gear 74connected with as is a shaft 43 t at carries -radially projecting whichis a pinion 75 that meshes witha gear 7 6 fastened on the cam shaft.(Fig. 4.) Each of the cams on the cam shaft is so shaped that itperforms three similar actions during each revolution of the cam shaft,that is, during each revolution of the cam shaft three screws arecarried into line with the chuck and three nuts are applied to thescrews. As a result of this design the output of the machine is highwithout requiring the machine to he run at excessive speed, or in otherwords with a predetermined speed of rotation of the chuck spindle, thegearing is such and the cams are so shaped that three nuts are appliedto three screws at one-third of the speed of rotation of the cam shaftthat would be necessary if the cams were so designed that at eachrevolution, but one nut was applied to a screw, which not only allows arelatively slow cam shaft speed but a similarly low spindle speed forthe output.

\Vith single cams, instead of the triple cams and the continuously r01ating chuck spindle which are features of is invention, to obtain't-hesame volume 01 product the high speed of the cam shaft that is necessarygives the elements, particularly the gate and fingers, such quickactions that the screws snap out of place and the nuts fail to properlyengage with the screws, to say nothing of the excess wearon the partsresulting from the high speeds:=. Time is also saved by reason i of thefact that the chuck spindle always rotates and the other elements haveno dwell or lost motions.

The 1nvent1on claimed 1S 1. A machine for turning nuts upon screwscomprising a chuck, means for rotating and opening and closing thechuck, a screw hopper, a runway arranged to receive screws from thescrew hopper, a gate at the lower end of the-runway adapted to carry thescrews one at a time to one side of the run way, picker fingers adaptedto grasp a screw from the gate and carry it into line with the chuck, anut hopper, a chute extending from the nut hopper and arranged toreceive nuts from the nut hopper, a carrier at the lower end of saidchute adapted to receive a. nut and push it against the screw held bysaid picker fingers until the head of the screw enters the chuck, a camshaft, cams on the cam shaft timed to actuate the gate, pickerfingers,.carrier and chuck opening and closing means a plurality oftimes for each rotation of the cam shaft, and means for rotating the camshaft.

2.. Ainachine for turning nuts upon screws comprisinga chuck, means forrotating and opening and closing the chuck, a screw hopper, a runwayarranged to receive screws from the screw hopper, a gate at the lowerend of the runway adapted to carry the screws one at a time to onesideof'the runway, picker fingers adapted to grasp a screw from the gate andcarryit into line with the chuck, a nut hopper, a chute extending fromthe nut hopper and arranged to receive nuts from the nut hopper, acarrier at the lower end of said chute adapted to receive anut and pushit against the screw held by said picker fingers until the head of thescrew enters the chuck, a cam shaft, cams on the cam shaft timed to,actuate the gate, picker fingers, carrier and chuck opening and closingmeans a plurality of times for each rotation of the cam shaft, andreduction gearing connecting the chuck rotating means and the cam shaft.

3. A machine for turning nuts upon screws comprising a chuck, means forrotating and opening and closing the chuck, a screw hopper, mechanismsfor feeding screws from the screw hopper into line with the chuck, a nuthopper, mechanisms for feeding nuts from the nut hopper into line withthe chuck, and means causing them to push the heads of the screws intothe chuck, a cam shaft, and cams on the cam shaft timed to actuate thechuck opening and closing mechanism, the screw feeding and the nutfeeding mechanisms a plurality of times for each rotation of the camshaft.

4. In a machine for handlin screws in combination, a chuck, means orrotating and opening and ,closing the chuck, a screw receiving hopper, arunway arranged to receive screws from said hopper, a gate at the lowerend of the runway adapted to carry the screws one at a time from therunway to one side thereof, picker fingers adapted to pick up a screwfrom the gate and carry it down into line with the chuck, a cam shaft,cams on the cam shaft timed to actuate the gate, picker fingers and thechuck opening and closing means a plurality of times for each rotationof the cam shaft, and means for rotating the cam shaft.

REUBEN S. CROSBY.

